at openhousetv. i'm sara gore and i'll see you next week on "open house nyc. welcome to the "wall street journal report." i'm maria bartiromo. tick tock, the clock is running out on the fiscal cliff. i will talk to the former cabinet secretary who says going over the fiscal cliff is better than getting a bad deal. the auto industry is back. what it is doing right even in a soft economy. we will find out what is driving profitability. and curtains up on the billion dollar women who made the lion roar. my conversation with julie taymor. >> it's made 4 to $6 billion no no one complained about it. >> >> "wall street journal report" begins right now. >> this is america's number one financial news program "wall

street journal report." no now, maria bartiromo. >> here's a look at what is making news. some surprisingly good news about america's economy. the labor department says 146,000 new jobs were created in november. much better than economists' expectations. the unemployment rate drop theed 2/10 of a percent now at 7.7%. the best number since december of twachlt the labor department says superstorm sandy had little affect on those numbers. the markets continue their familiar pattern of following the latest word or words or hopes on the fiscal cliff. no major moves during the week, but several times the market ran out of steam toward the end of the trading session. as for the fiscal cliff, the house of representatives left for a long weekend on wednesday. while there may be some behind-the-scenes action in terms of the talk no one from the house is home. they announced 11,000 layoffs

from citi. the markets liked the move. the stock rallied on the expense cuts. netflix and disney announced a licensing agreement that will give netflix the right to show disney movies shortly after the they leave the theaters. so much to talk about, the fiscal cliff, jobs numbers, the state of the economy who better to talk about it than robert reich and current economics professor at the berkeley. let's talk about the numbers. on friday the surprisingly strong jobs numbers, 146,000 new jobs created. the unemployment rate 7.7%. we were expecting impact from superstorm sandy and earlier thanksgiving. what do these numbers say about the economy? >> apparently we are still struggling. they are not hugely wonderful numbers. i don't think that anyone should breathe a sigh of relief but we

are undoubtedly moving in the right direction. early thanksgiving may have cancelled out negative effects of sandy. the bureau of statistics said sandy didn't have much of an affect in november. >> think we will see revisions next month. >> every month we are seeing reing visions and so far they have been downward. the revisions for october and september were both downward slightly. so i wouldn't be surprised if we see downward revisions coming up. >> the other big story is the fiscal cliff. can you help us read the tea leaves here? this week we heard from timothy getter in, the treasury secretary. a reporter at cnbc asked if you don't get higher tax rates on the rich and republicans come up with doing away with loopholes and exceptions are you prepared to go over the fiscal cliff and he said absolutely. kpub cans with their counterproposals this week. what's behind closed doors?

how do you read this? >> you know as well as i do, what happens in the public when you have intense negotiations going on is really, is no reflection of what is going on in negotiations. i think it is important the president and white house and tim geithner think it is important to keep the possibility of going over the fiscal cliff to keep pressure on the republicans and the republicans are starting to talk about the possibility of holding up the debt ceiling come january or february. that's their trump card, as well. >> you are focused on taxes. much of the conversation has been on taxes and raising rates and revenue. we are not seeing the same conversation when it comes to size able spending cuts. >> i think what the president has said -- and this is the word inside the white house, as well. the president has come up with some substantial cuts in the

increase, the scheduled increases in medicare and also medicaid and those cuts have to do with pushing and squeezing suppliers, using bargaining leverage of medicare and medicaid to get them to reduce costs. that was at issue during the kman. remember the romney and ryan were claiming the president was taking too much out of medicare. the president is saying i have done that and i'm putting $400 billion of additional cuts on the table and that's all i'm go ing to do. that's all i can do politically. i i've got a lot of democrats who i don't want medicare and social security touched. >> of course the whole irresponsible actions of both sides going on vacation. there have been suggestions notably by warren buffett that congress should not get paid and should not have health insurance until they come to an agreement. >> i think there is a lot of negotiating behind the scenes. staffs are meeting almost

constantly. but you raise an interesting point. the optics, as walk likes to call it of going on vacation when you have a fiscal cliff looming if you don't have an agreement are simply awful. boehner has already told the republicans that nobody is going on vacation until this thing is settled. i think the democrats will probably say, pelosi and reid will probably say the same thing to democrats. i wouldn't be surprised in congress stayed in session, maybe all the way to the 21st of december. this is going to be not to put too fine of a point on it a cliff hanger with regard to the fiscal cliff. i think there will be some movement. in other words, they would not go on vacation unless there is some agreement about what a framework will be or some way they are going to avoid basically seeing tax rates go up on january 1st and major spending cuts go in to effect. there will be some delay if they don't reach a tentative

agreement by december 21st when they head home. >> i would hope so. because i think america will be really upset. at this point in time we all recognize what the implications of going over the cliff are. >> if i can just say, i think capital markets will be upset. that will upset the rest of america but most consumers, they say fiscal cliff. >> what's the fiscal cliff. >> i don't know what that is. >> you are right. the business community is sitting on its cash, wall street waiting on every word and consumer as if nothing. but you know it comes home to roost. good to have you on the program. thank you so much. >> nice to see you. american cars zooming along. some of the best news for the auto sector in years. what it means for your set of wheels. living with lions, julie taymor with me on one of broadway's biggest payoffs as it marks a milestone. back in a moment. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.

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welcome back. america's auto industry is in high geempl despite economic uncertainty it is on pace to sell 15 million new cars this year. mike jackson the ceo of auto nation, the largest auto retailer. good to have you on the program. welcome back. i was surprised on what is going on with auto sales. five-year high with auto sales with so much uncertainty about the economy, the fiscal cliff. what's behind the strength. >> in an other wise anemic economic recovery in america the auto recovery is absolutely a bright spot. industry sales collapsed in '08 and '09 from 16 to 17 million

down to a low of 10. there was simply no financing available for customers for a couple of years. so that pushed out the average age of the cars on the road to an unprecedented 11 years. american consumers basically stopped fixing their cars during that period of time. now they need to do something. >> it's this replacement cycle. time to get a new car. i'm just wondering if the strength in auto sales last month is partly a move toward taking from the future. in other words, is hurricane sandy related at all? did the hurricane pull up auto sales from next year in to this year? >> the replacement need has millions of units that are backed up and that will last for the next several years. the industry in november had a selling rate of 15,500,000.

the full year will average the mid 14s. there was some hurricane sandy. i will tell you in auto sales and we're a sun belt company without any sandy effect, our sales improved 8% over october and we were up 21% in the month of november. that had nothing to do with hurricane sandy. >> is the fiscal cliff affecting your business, mike? are you seeing consumers hesitant about buying. we were talking about the fact that consumers are optimistic and business is sitting on cash anticipating the results of the fiscal cliff. what's it doing to your business? >> maria, it's amazing and a head scratcher and maybe i just worry too much but the american consumer believes, or has faith, confidence, whatever you call it that there will be some sort of resolution around the fiscal cliff and that washington, d.c. is not so recklessly

irresponsible to throw this economy back in to recession. so they are behaving as if the fiscal cliff will be resolved. so auto sales have met the challenges of the debt crisis of high gas prices and now the fiscal cliff with the american consumer on a durable good saying we think at the end of the day they will do the right thing and this will be resolved. >> what are you seeing out there? you sell all kinds of cars. what are the hottest brands? whether it is luxury, economy brands, what are you selling most and what's hot? >> i think the most important development in the marketplace is the embracing of fuel economy by the american consumer in an unprecedented way. what's interesting, it is not hybrids and electrics they are embracing. here's the basic equation. we are saying you can have the same size vehicle with the same speed but a 25 to 30% improvement in fuel efficiency

with traditional technology that you get your money back in two to three years. that's a winning proposition to the american consumer. >> me let me ask you about something else. most auto companies market to men, and yet women are making the lion's share of financial decisions. how come the auto sector isn't marketing to women? is your industry behind the times? >> our industry is behind the times in some ways, maria. our data shows 60% of women are deciding what finally happens. they are brilliant and let the men think they have decided but at the end of the day it is the women that has decided. i will tell you what has changed. in the digital world of today, women or men can do their research and their negotiating from their ied pad, mobile phone or home computer. women are very comfortable in that environment. really like the fact that they

are now in control of the negotiation, rather than the old scheme where they have to come in to the dealership and jump through all of the hoops. i'm optimistic that a transformation is underway in auto may havetive retail that is much more customer friendly. >> good to talk to you, mike. thank you so much. >> always a pleasure. see you soon. up next on the "wall street journal report," the woman behind the king, tony winning ah-choo!

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[ male announcer ] lease a 2013 c250 for $349 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. welcome back. the music of "the lion king" marked 15 years on broadway last month. the story of a lion cub raised by a wart hog and mere cat were ascending to his father's thrown was a screen hit for disney. since opening in 1997 it has become the highest-grossing broadway in history. julie taymor told me how she turned a two-dimensional film in to a live experience that's been playing the world over. ♪ >> you were the first woman to win a tony for "the lion king." the highest grossing musical in history, bringing in $6 billion.

did you envision such success? >> no. >> tell us what you were expecting bringing a cartoon to broadway. >> i don't know if i had any expectations about the commercial success. >> the producers wanted what i had done in the theater. i have been in theater all of my life. there is a clash, a bit of a tension, between giving the audience what they think they want, especially in a big well-known piece like "the lion king" and giving them something they didn't know what they wanted. snooets ♪ the circle of life >> over people were involved at the time in disney that weren't theater people and they didn't think that the masks and puppets could work. so we did some workshops and tests. michael eisner said they all work. every version works, but your first idea, let's go with it. the bigger the risk -- it's risky but the bigger the risk the bigger the payoff.

they have to feel that risk is necessary to create something that will be ground breaking. >> i know that resonating and touching someone emotionally has to make you feel unbelievable. but is this something that you are proud of, $6 billion in profits, the "the lion king," the 16th year on broadway selling tickets an the world. >> i know i'm proud and we're number one. i think because its a show -- there are not that many but because it is a show that's good for families people come back. you have seen it how many times? >> five. >> i've seen it hundreds. what about the global story. the lion came out playing gobelly. do you have to change things on the audience, different cultures and countries. >> it's been fun with "the lion king," really fun. for instance in madrid last september we opened the first

spanish-speaking "the lion king" in madrid and you get to the point where they are supposed to do the charleston and they do a flamenco dance. and the whole audience is going, [ clapping ] ole! >> as soon as you do that, you make it part of that culture. >> i think the most tight /* exciting part was in south africa, in johannesburg. we cast an african pumba and a black timon. so you had what would be traditionally historically two characters who would never integrate with each other part of apartheid. we actually did something politically moving, socially and politically moving and the audience felt it. it happened just by sheer casting and then the accents and all of the different -- it was

very thrilling and they play with each other and many things like that where political and social things have happened in the experience of "the lion king" go ing in to a dumpb country. >> does commercial success or potential of commercial success dictate how the shoet show is put together. what goes in to the show? >> everybody who is a producer will think of the weekly running costs and the potential of how much money and the size of the theater it can make. when i kid "the lion king" i had no idea what it cost. no one talked to me about money. i found out last year how much it cost but it made upwards of $6 billion no no one complained about it. >> how tough is it to introduce new technology to an industry that doesn't really have that kind of technology we see elsewhere in the digital world. >> "the lion king" is low tech. it was intentionally so. you see the rods and strings and that was a concept that i wanted

very much for the lion king. i wanted people to see old-style theater, puppet tri. as a person who studied theater, i have seen it in the original form. it was there to bridge the gap between the inexplicable in life. look at how disney has always dealt with death. they don't shy away. they don't go oh, my god, m ourks stafa is dying. fairy tales and myths have helped get through those times and that's how you tell children how you get through a doubt or an illness. >> the circle of life. >> those lessons are important and why people bring their kids to the theater. they have a great time, but if they can bring something home that has made their lives fuller, richer, more complete i

have done my job. >> my thanks to julie taymor, up next on the "wall street journal report" we will look a the news this week that will have an impact on your money. and the most overused resume buzz words that may be keeping you from the job of your dreams. oh...sorry about that. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office. military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help. i have obligations. cute tobligations, but obligations.g.

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we have big news to tell you about. beginning in january we will have a new name. look for "on the money" with maria bartiromo. we will have exciting segments, great guest paens i will be here, as well. hope you join us.

look at the stories in the week ahead that may impact your money this week. on tuesday, we will find out if the u.s. is importing or exporting more goods. that's when the balance of trade will be released and on wednesday the federal reserve will wrap up the last meeting for 2012 with another press conference from ben bernanke. wednesday is his birthday. happy birthday, mr. chairman. retail sales report out on wednesday as is the first of two with inflation indicators the producer price index that tracks prices at the wholesale level followed up on friday with the consumer price index which follows. finally, if you are on this list it doesn't death set you apart. professional networking site released the overused buzz words on user profiles. they are so often used they lose significance with hiring managers. analyzing 187 million profiles around the globe, linkedin found create zif the top offender in

the united states as well as seven other countries. rounding out the top five, organizational, effective, motivated and extensive experience. using buzz words in an effort to land your dream gig can be a buzz kill. just fyi. thank you for joining us. my guest next week grover norquist. we will get an update on where we stand on the fiscal cliff negotiation. each week keep it here where wall street meets main street. have a great week, everybody.